Gift of the Night Fury: Hali-verse
by NightFuryOne
Summary: Snoggletog is finally upon Berk. It's a special celebration for the Vikings but around this time, the dragons have a little something of their own going on. However, the Vikings don't know about that. Not yet at least. So Hali decides to give Toothless a gift for Snoggletog in which she feels... upset about. And what the heck is going on with her birthmark? - Fem!Hic - Toothcup
1. Where are the Dragons Going?

**Hey guys. It's been a while. I know. But to be honest, I am in High School and I never get to actually write anything for you guys. Also, the HTTYD 2 movie doesn't come out on DVD until NOVEMBER 11! That's about two months from now. So for the time being, I'm going to write little shorts, whether they come from Dreamworks or from my mind which usually comes up with stuff. This is Gift of the Night Fury: Hali-verse.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Dreamworks, How To Train Your Dragon, or anything related of the sort. I am merely making this for entertainment purposes not for profit.**

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><p><em>This is Berk, boasting the kind of balmy, fun-in-the-sun climate that will give you frostbite on your spleen. The one upside is our annual holiday. We call it Snoggletog. Why we chose such a stupid name remains a mystery. But with the war long over, and dragons living amongst us, this year's Snoggletog promises to be one to remember. <em>(1)

Hali, still in bed and trying to sleep, woke up to the sound of a familiar roar and the house shaking. "Hali!" She peeked out from under the covers, her mind just catching up with everything. Knowing the usual alarm, she pulled her blanket over her head in an attempt to muffle the sound; but of course to no avail.

An even more excited roar sounded. "HALI! Come on! Up!" She rolled around to find any way to go back to sleep but the roars would have none of it. She sighed after realizing her attempts were fruitless and sat herself up.

"Alright, alright, I'm up!" she groaned pushing the blanket off of her head. She reached out blindly to find her helmet. She grabbed it, placed it on her head, and made herself get out of bed, the yawn escaping against her protest.

She walked through the house and out the front door into the chilly open air. She turned around and looked up to see Toothless perched on the roof just like every morning.

"Well, good morning, mister bossy," she said. Toothless laughed his dragonish laugh which Hali just had to imitate. The Night Fury climbed down the side of the house, keeping a close eye on Hali. "Do you always have to wake me up so early to go flyING!"

Hali's prosthetic leg slipped out from under her on a patch of ice. This was precisely why Toothless kept an eye on her. He quickly hopped down and caught her just before she could really injure herself. He pushed her upright as she looked down, annoyed at the leg, and kicked it against the ground. "Stupid leg," she muttered.

Toothless glanced at her up and down. "Are you okay?" he asked, starting forward as she slipped a little.

"Thanks, Toothless. I'm okay. Yeah, we can go flying now." She put her hands on both of his cheeks when he suddenly burped in her face. "Ew, ew, what? Argh. Toothless." She pushed her hand on his nose, laughing as she did so.

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><p>This was always Hali's favorite part of the day. That sense of freedom she always had when she was in the sky, flying through the clouds and over mountain tops. She didn't think any of the other dragons dared to go as high and as fast as she and Toothless did.<p>

And so, when flying, she loved to go as high and as fast as possible with the tricks thrown in of course. It never started out the same though, each flight having its own unique twist.

Like this time, they were going high, low and really freaking fast.

Of course, neither of them would be themselves if they weren't doing any daring free falls down a mountain side.

They evened out for Hali to reorient herself. She saw _that_ ledge. That same ledge that she and Toothless have been using for tricks and barely any of them had gone right.

The first time they tried it, Hali wasn't even high enough to make it over the ledge which caused her to ram her gut into the side of it and for Toothless to have to catch her before she fell into the water.

The second time, she forgot to unhook her harness so she went up (hardly) and down smack dab into the saddle. Thankfully Gobber knew how to work with both dragon and, especially, human teeth.

The third time, both she and Toothless were sure they would get it right. After all third time is a charm. Unfortunately, that's not how it went. Hali misjudged her jump and ended up going too short so she skidded on the top of the ledge, causing Toothless to claw onto the ledge. Fortunately for them Hali got onto the saddle just as Toothless had to let go.

So obviously, there was the chance of the trick going wrong. But with Hali being as stubborn as she was, you know she would try it again. And try she did.

"Okay, you ready?" she asked, making sure her harness was unhooked this time.

"Be careful," he warned, bracing himself for the tail-fin to close.

"Here we go." She took her prosthetic foot out of the stirrup and planted both feet on the saddle. As soon as that happened, Toothless' eyes went into slits as he struggled to keep himself in the air. Hali stood, braced herself, and hoped to the gods this jump would work.

And it did.

She flew, belly-first, over the ledge and back onto the saddle with a grunt. She slammed her prosthetic into the stirrup, bringing them into a smooth glide. "Yes! Finally!" she shouted.

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><p>Back at Berk, the Vikings were preparing for their annual Snoggletog celebration. This time, with dragons. There were so many people on dragons hanging up decorations at heights that they couldn't reach on their own. A giant wooden tree, decorated with shields pinned by Nadder spikes, stood in the center of the plaza.<p>

The now dragon trainers were hanging up ornaments on the sides of houses and reefs in the front. Children were running around, wearing dragon masks, playing with the dragons walking about.

Stoick and Gobber were walking around as well. "By Odin's beard, Gobber," the chief was saying. "Vikings spending the winter holidays with dragons. What would the fathers say?"

"They'd think we'd lost our minds," Gobber replied happily.

Stoick returned the feeling with a hearty laugh as he turned to face his trip. "Well done. Well done, all of you. I never thought I'd live to see this day. Peace on the island of Berk. This will surely be the greatest holiday we've ever seen." The Vikings, who had all gathered in front of their chief, responded with laughter and cheers.

Suddenly, a roar pierced the sky, spreading confusion to the Vikings. "What the?" Stoick said, looking up and around. Gobber was doing the same. The dragons, though, seemed to know exactly what was going on. All of them snapped to attention of the roars as their eyes went to slits.

Filling the sky, were dragons of all species known. Nightmares, Nadders, Gronckles, Zipplebacks. They were all flying in one certain direction.

"What in Thor's name?" Gobber mumbled. Both he and Stoick turned to a rooftop as a Nightmare roared out and as if it were a cue, the rest of the dragons on Berk rose to the air. This sent distress through the village as they panicked over their dragons.

"Where's Hali?" Ashter asked, looking around. Surely Hali would know what was going on.

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><p>Unfortunately that was not the case. Both she and Toothless were still on their flight, going through the clouds, oblivious to the distress and panic on Berk.<p>

"What do you say, love?" Hali asked, rubbing his side. "Wanna go again?"

"Sure why – what's wrong?" Toothless asked looking up at her. His attention was brought to the front when she let out a startled yelp. She ducked down, trying to avoid the flurry of flapping wings. She made sure to try to hand the reigns over to Toothless as much as she could while he maneuvered through the crowd.

"Whoa!"

"Oh, what the heck," Toothless muttered as he tried to keep them both out of harm's way.

Hali looked behind her at the flying dragons all flying in formation. It brought back a creepy feeling. But she wasn't watching ahead so this caused her not to duck when a Zippleback came by and knocked her helmet off. This was easy for her to notice. "Oh no, my helmet!" She looked down at the helmet that was now falling to the ocean.

"What?" Toothless looked down too and immediately after, dove towards it. "Hold on, we'll get it!" This came as a surprise to Hali.

"Aah! Toothless!" She gripped onto the reigns as Toothless concentrated on grabbing the helmet. While she was touched that he cared so much about her helmet, they had bigger matters on their hands. "No, no, wait! _Toothless_!" That got his attention. "Stop."

He threw out his wings, bringing them to a hovering position. "Why? But your helmet?"

"We'll get it later, love. Right now we need to get home and find out what's going on."

Toothless scanned the water, hoping for at least a chance to grab the helmet. Before he could though, Hali changed the tail fin position and Toothless had to go along with it. "Okay, let's go."

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><p>Hali hoped it wasn't going to be bad or horribly chaotic. But her hopes were downed when she saw the panic the village was in. Dragons were departing fast and Vikings were trying to stop them with futile effort.<p>

The duo landed on the island where Hali dismounted quick. She met up with Ashter who was running up to her. Toothless came up behind the girl. "Hali, what's going on?" Ashter asked.

Hali didn't have time to answer before she was swarmed by Vikings with their frantic questions. She flinched and tightened herself up as she was circled in. Toothless wrapped his tail around her waist, giving her some sense of security. "Why did they leave?" one of them asked.

"What's happening?" a panicked lady asked.

"What if they never come back?" another Viking asked.

She put out her hands, trying to get any kind of sense into them. "Stop, wait.." Though she hadn't have needed.

"Calm down!" her father's booming voice came. He shoved some Vikings out of his way to stand in front of his daughter. "Give her a chance to speak." He turned his head to her, his expression turning from stern to worried. "Hali, where have all of our dragons gone?"

She let her shoulders go limp, her expression going to complete bewilderment. "Dad... I don't know."

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><p><strong>(1) This is quoted from Gift of the Night Fury. It is the narration that Hiccup does in the beginning. Just wanted to point that out.<strong>

**So I realized that I have not done this yet and I know it isn't Christmas but I just have to write it out. And I think I can make this super adorable given the relationship between the two. I'm just going to see where this goes because honestly, I have no idea. I'm going to start out with the movie plotline then add in my own twist.**

**Remember the birthmark? Yeah. That's going to be important.**

**So it is 1:30 a.m. And I have a marching band show today and I have to be at the band hall at noon. Well, I hope you enjoyed. I'm goin' to bed. Bye! Next chapter will be up soon. Promise!**


	2. An Automatic Tail Fin

**Yep. I am up once again in the wee hours of the morning. I cannot sleep and I'm most productive at night so I thought why the hell not upload another chapter. Besides, I'm really stressed out so I needed some relief. And to be honest, this was really heart-wrenching to write. I hope you guys enjoy though.**

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><p>"I don't know" are not the words you want to hear from the top dragon trainer when in a crisis that involves dragons. So the Vikings tried to solve this matter by holding a meeting the the Great Hall that night.<p>

Inside, it was chaotic. Questions and statements were being tossed around in a flurry of voices and most of them were unintelligible. One statement, however, seemed to be the most consistent. "Snoggletog is ruined."

"It's not ruined," Stoick said, climbing onto the table to be more visible to everyone. "We're Vikings. We've been perfectly happy celebrating without dragons for generations. And there's no reason we can't do it again. Now we don't know where they've gone off to. But we have to have faith that they'll be back again soon. Am I right?"

Gobber, dressed with reindeer antlers, lights, and bells on his prosthetic arm, gave his best friend his support. "You're right!" he shouted. "We are Vikings. We are tough! Most of the time."

The six teenagers, who were standing in a corner of the Hall, gave unamused looks as Stoick continued with his speech. Snotlout sighed and nudged Tuffnut's arm, signaling she wanted to go. Tuffnut nodded and stood followed by his sister, Fishlegs, Ashter, and Hali.

Now they were walking down the pathways in silence, their heads hanging low. "That was depressing," Ruffnut said.

"I know," Ashter agreed. "I was looking forward to spending the holiday with Stormfly."

The only with a bounce in their step was Fishlegs who was quietly whistling to himself. "What are you so happy about?" Tuffnut asked. "Don't you miss Meatlug?"

This caught him by surprise. He stopped in his tracks, his eyes going wide. "Me?" he cracked. He quickly turned his bouncy expression to upset. "Oh.. oh yeah." He started his fake crying that was obvious to the other teens. "I miss him so much." And adding onto the awkward moment he created, he clapped his hands together, gave a nervous goodnight, and quickly scuffled off leaving the teens to give him a dumbfounded look.

It was then that Ashter decided to have an idea. So he gasped and stood in front of the others. "I've got an idea," he said. "Let's make some new Snoggletog traditions. You know, to bury the sadness."

The twins and Snotlout weren't into it and gave a sad sigh. Ashter looked at Hali for support. "Actually, Ashter may be onto something," she said, trying to be somewhat helpful.

Tuffnut scoffed. "Easy for you to say," he told her. "Your dragon won't go anywhere without you." They all looked to Toothless who was perched on a cliff, looking out into the open.

"Must be nice," Ruffnut added as they walked away, leaving Hali to her thoughts.

_He's right, _she thought. _Toothless can't go anywhere without me. There's gotta be a way to fix that._

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><p>The next day, there were still children up and about but were less cheery. There were a few that were making a Gronckle snowman and sighed when it was finished. Though their attention was grabbed when Ashter's voice rang out with, "Yak-nog! Get your yak-nog! Come on frothy, delicious cup of cheer!" He looked ahead and saw he friends walking away.<p>

"You guys!" he called, grabbing their attention. "Try this tasty new beverage I made for the holidays."

Tuffnut took one whiff of it and recoiled instantly. "Ugh. What is that? Is that you?" He shoved Ruffnut away.

"It's Yak-nog!" Ashter corrected. He grabbed the wooden pitcher and poured the drink into a mug. This caused both of the twins to gag.

"Blech. If I drink that, I'm gonna _yak nog _all over the place."

"Maybe you'd rather taste a punch in the face?"

"Ashter, it sounds delightful," Snotlout said, taking a hold of a cup. "I'd love a mg." Ashter gave the twins a smug look as Snotlout took a gulp on the Yak-nog. She nearly threw up in her mouth. Struggling to hold it in, she forcefully swallowed it down. She placed the mug back on the shield, her face going strangely pale. She clicked her tongue as an attempt to get the taste out. "You can really taste the Yak."

"Ooh yum!" Fishlegs shouted as he ran up to his fiends. "What is that?"

Ashter turned excitedly to his friend. "Oh, you wanna try some?" he asked. "It's my new traditional drink." Snotlout, wanting to give her friend a warning, leaned in and slowly shook her head with her eyes wide.

Fishlegs saw the signal and put his hands behind his back. "Oh you know, I have suddenly and inexplicably changed my mind."

"Well, you don't know what you're missing. I bet Hali will love this." He walked off to the forge where he heard her banging around in earlier. Once he left, Snotlout was holding her stomach as she felt the beverage start to slide back up her throat.

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><p>"Hali?" Ashter called, looking around the blacksmith.<p>

"Yeah, I'm over here, Ashter!" the girl called back. She grabbed a pair of pliers from the wall and started back to her project. She set the pliers down and observed her handiwork, checking for any mistakes.

"Here. Happy holidays. From me to you." He gestured to the shield he was holding.

"Thanks, Ash." Hali grabbed a mug from the shield.

Before she was able to take a sip, Ashter interrupted with a question. "What're you up to?"

"Okay, well, you're gonna think I'm crazy. But I just couldn't stop thinking about what Tuffnut said last night. Toothless can't come and go like the other dragons and that really isn't fair. So I was up all night and I think I've found a way to fix that." She took a sip from the mug and immediately tensed from the foul taste that came along with the drink. She drummed her fingers on the desk, ting to focus on anything but the taste.

"No way! You built him a new tail? So he's going to be able to fly without you." Hali hummed her agreement, setting the cup far away from herself. "Wow. What a great gift!" She hummed again. "What if he never comes back?"

_Oh..._ she thought.

Ashter, of course, laughed at his ridiculous question. "What am I saying? Of course he'll come back."

_Right. He always will._

"Well, I'm going to go spread some more holiday cheer. You're amazing!" He ran off, apparently forgetting about the cup. Hali waved to him, and once he was out of earshot, she spit out the contents onto the floor, rubbing the remains of it off her face.

She took a hold of the new tail fin and breathed deeply. She had canceled any kind of telepathic communication with Toothless so he wouldn't know about the gift. Though the girl was fighting herself. What if he never _did _come back?What would happen then?

_Stop it, Hali, _she told herself. _You're being ridiculous. He always will come back. _

So taking one more deep breath, she stuffed the tail under her arm and carried it out of the forge.

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><p>Pawing on the roof of her house was Toothless who thought she was still asleep. "Come on, it never takes you this long to-" he was saying.<p>

"Toothless!" Hali called, grabbing his attention. He looked over to her to see her carrying a bundle in her arms. "Come on down, love! I got something for ya."

_She got me something? _he asked silently as he climbed down the roof. He went up in front of her and sniffed the bundle. "What is this?" he asked aloud this time.

"What do you think about that? Yeah." She started walking around him, a small smile on her face but Toothless could sense something off.

"Hold on, what's going on?" He started going in a circle, trying to follow her.

"Would you just settle down?" she laughed. "Toothless, come on, love. Let me get this on ya." She grabbed his tail and sat on it much like the first time she gave him an artificial tail.

"Hey!" He turned his head around to watch her.

"Yeah. You are going to love this." She put all the gears together and in the last click, she stood herself up. She patted his tail, showing that she was done.

Toothless drew out his tail and took one look at it. He growled. "This isn't right." He started shaking his tail at the strange machine. Then he was scared because it wasn't coming off. He reared up on his front legs to avoid hitting Hali and continued with the shaking.

"No, no, no, no, Toothless please wait!" Hali cried, coming up towards him. "Toothless please!"

And suddenly, he opened his tail fin, and the other did the same. This was right in front of his face and caught him by surprise. He froze, his pupils dilating and ears perking up. He rose the tail fin up, testing it's movements. It clicked in his mind. _It moves on its own._

Hali breathed a sigh of relief. "There you go. See? Got it?"

Toothless swung his head around, his eyes focusing on Hali. There was uncertainty there. That was obvious. He tried the telepathic link but it seemed like it was blocked off. _She gave me my flight back. _He looked her up and down. There was something missing.

When she took a step forward, it rushed back into his memory. _Her helmet's still in the sea, isn't it? It's too dangerous for her. Now I can go on my own._ He pushed himself off the ground and started flying to where he thought the helmet was. _Hali, I'll be back soon. I promise. _

But he forgot the telepathic link was blocked.

So Hali, having no idea what Toothless had said, watched him go, her expression completely showing her dejected emotion.

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><p><strong>I'm so sad right now. I really like this story but this was just so sad. It's even more upsetting when you watch it over and over again. Well, I'll be uploading the next chapter soon.<strong>

**Oh and I have a marching contest this Saturday so wish me luck guys! I hope it goes well.**


	3. Three Days Later

**I LIVE! Hello everyone. I know it's been a while since I uploaded anything. But since football season is over, I actually have this thing called time now! I've gotten myself back into the spirit of writing. Also, the whole ToothCup thing is going to be a bit more accurate now since I have an understanding of how relationships work. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter.**

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><p><strong>Three Days Later...<strong>

Three days later and Hali was lying in her bed, already aware she was in it for far longer than usual. She looked up at the noiseless ceiling brokenly and then rolled sluggishly onto her side. She wasn't thinking about anything. Earlier she had tried to reach Toothless but it hadn't worked. So she tried summoning anything of her powers though not even a spark showed up.

Suddenly, she heard a creak. A quiet creak that gave her just a slimmer of hope. She held absolutely still, her eyes widening. She heard another creak and sat up this time. One more and she started smiling. "Toothless!" she yelled, throwing off the covers.

She ran outside of her house, forgetting about the ice. She looked up to the roof and expected to see a sleek black Night Fury pouncing on the roof, but nothing was registered as she slipped on the ice and falling on her back. She grunted as she saw instead her father hammering the roof.

"Morning, Hali!" he said cheerfully.

Her heart fell as she pushed herself up. "Hey, Dad," she said, brushing the snow off.

"Glad you're up! I was looking for your helmet." He started climbing down the ladder.

"My... my helmet?" She remembered it falling into the ocean. _Forgot to get it._

"Odin needs a place to put your goodies."

"Alright, yeah. I'll get on that." She turned to leave. "_Great."_

Stoick noticed her dejected demeanor. "Hold on," he said, causing her to turn around. "Hold on. Okay, what's on your mind? Come on. Out with it."

She sighed. "Well, it's been three days, Dad. I thought Toothless would be back by now. I can't even use the telepathy."

"I'm sure he's with the other dragons."

"Yeah? Wish I could be that sure."

"Listen. I know what it's like to miss someone you love this time of year. But what can we do when they can't be here for the holiday? We celebrate." He put his hand on his daughter's shoulder. "I imagine that is exactly what Toothless would want you to do. You know he loves you. He wouldn't want you to be upset on a holiday, would he?"

She looked up at her father. "No, he wouldn't. You're right."

"Good." He _lightly_ nudged her shoulder, nearly knocking her off balance. "Now go get that helmet. We've had enough disappointment around here."

Hali sighed. _Right, how do I do this?_

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><p>Walking down the plaza, Hali carried two ores over her shoulder and since that limited her vision a bit, she didn't see Fishlegs come up with a basket of fish. She then rammed into him.<p>

She peered into the basket, seeing the fish fill up to the brim. "Oh, Fishlegs, you hungry?" she asked with a smirk. "There's enough fish there to feed a dragon."

Fishlegs laughed nervously. "Ah, a dragon?" he repeated. "That's... that's." He didn't finish his sentence as he turned and quickly walked away, leaving Hali to give him a confused look.

So her curiosity got the better of her and she followed her friend who proceeded to walk into one of the large barns.

_What's he doing in there? _she asked herself. She saw Fishlegs close the door as quickly as possible. Then just about a few seconds later, the door started to open. And not wanting to be seen, she hid herself on the side of the barn as he walked out, twiddling his fingers.

Hali walked around the side as soon as he was out of earshot. She leaned the ores against the barn and grabbed the door handles. Checking again to make sure he wasn't looking, she opened the doors and was hardly able to register anything as she was suddenly rammed into by a Gronckle.

Now she loved flying, but it really was weird when you were slammed into by the face of a Gronckle that was flying at a swift pace. "Meatlug?!" she cried.

"Hi, sorry, I'll explain later," the Gronckle said.

Ashter watched as Meatlug zipped around with Hali perched on her head. "Hali?" he called. "Where are you going?!"

"I have no idea!" Hali cried back.

"Meatlug!" Fishlegs shouted from atop a roof. "What about presents?"

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><p>"I can't believe him!"<p>

Ashter turned around, staring at Fishlegs incredulously while the twins dug around in the barn. "You can't believe him?" Ashter yelled. "You kidnapped your dragon!"

"But that makes it sound so mean."

While the two argued, the twins uncovered something hidden in the hay pile. "Hey guys?" he asked, not sure about the situation.

"He flew away the second he was unleashed!" Ashter was yelling.

"I'm 72% sure he wanted to stay."

Tuffnut rolled his eyes. "Guys!" he shouted. That grabbed their attention. Putting their argument to a stop, Ashter, Fishlegs and Snotlout walked over to where the twins were.

"Whoa!" Fishlegs laughed. "Meatlug barfed up a bunch of rocks." Buried in the hay pile were pale blue _"rocks," _as Fishlegs put it.

"Those aren't rocks, you idiot," Ruffnut said, putting her hands on her hips. "Your dragon laid eggs."

"But boy dragons don't lay eggs."

"Yeah, you're _boy _dragon is a _girl _dragon."

He stood rigid, feeling like he should have face-palmed himself. "Okay. _That _actually explains a few things."

"Hey!" Ashter said excitedly, popping to his feet with an egg in hand. "_Everyone's _missing their dragons, right?"

"Oh, here it comes," Snotlout groaned.

Ashter grabbed a red ribbon from a small, wooden box. "I have an idea. It'll be another new Snoggletog tradition!" He turned around and presented the egg, now tied in the ribbon, with a smile on his face.

Now, with tied eggs tucked under their arms, each teenager sneaked out of the barn, running in different directions to separate houses. They all placed one egg in each house for the family to find. The teens giggled excitedly every time an egg was placed.

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><p>Unlike the teens having their fun back on Berk, Hali was more than a little confused as she and Meatlug flew through the fogged up area. It didn't help that Meatlug didn't elaborate much on what she was doing.<p>

Hali had repositioned herself so that she wasn't dangling from the dragon's nose the entire time. She squinted her eyes in an attempt to see through the fog. She'd expected her birthmark to make any sort of adjustment, but from what she'd experienced so far, her birthmark has made not a single effect. So she was relying on the good ole human eyesight.

Meatlug, on the other hand, could see perfectly fine.

This was proven when, right when Hali's mind caught up, Meatlug made a sharp turn to avoid one of the sea stacks. Meatlug decided to cut it close just to mess with Hali a little.

Hali figured this out when she heard the dragon snicker.

The girl sighed. "Not funny, Meatlug," she muttered dryly.

"Come on," the Gronckle said. "You have to admit it was a little amusing."

Hali shook her head as she smirked at the dragon. "I'm gonna get you for that."

"Wouldn't expect anything less."

And on they flew through the deep fog. Hali scanned the area multiple times, but nothing was familiar to her. Though she did see a wrecked ship lodged into the side of a sea stack. Meatlug then rose into the sky and Hali, not being used to not flying _with _the dragon, held on for dear life.

They flew over the cloud cover and as the front of the clouds was passed, Hali saw an island with the middle carved out into the ocean, the rest of it surrounded by stacks and stacks of rocks to form shelves. Even from the top of the clouds, she was able to see dragons perched on those shelves. What they were doing was still a mystery.

_Maybe Toothless is here, _Hali thought hopefully.

Meatlug dove down to the ringed island and landed on the ground. "Go have a look, Hali," she said, waiting for the girl to jump off her back.

Hali dismounted herself from the Gronckle, who then walked away, and stared in awe at the dragons before her. Not just adult dragons, but _baby _dragons! "Whoa," Hali gasped. "You guys come here to have babies." She glanced down and her eyes fell on a Gronckle nudging three rocks towards a pool of water.

She hummed and slid herself carefully down a slope. She nearly fell over, though, due to a baby Nadder and Gronckle playing tag. "Aah!" the Nadder cried. "Hi, Hali!"

The girl, after regaining her balance, stared after the Nadder in confusion. _How did that dragon know my name? _she wondered silently. Shaking of the dumbfounded feeling, she aimed her attention towards the Gronckle who just nudged in the last egg into the pool. Hali knelt beside it as the eggs sank to the bottom.

She took no notice of the vibration under her hands and watched a baby Gronckle swim out of the pool. Two more followed suit. "Aw," she said, watching the adorable baby dragons. She looked around and noticed a stray egg lying near the pool. "Hey, I think you missed one."

Since the eggs exploding was unbeknownst to her, she walked up to the egg and reached down to pick it up. "Watch out!" the Gronckle warned as she scooted away.

"What?" Hali asked too late. The egg exploded violently, knocking Hali back a few feet. She slid on her back as the chunks of the egg shell scattered around her. Her head snapped up in time to see a baby Gronckle falling from the sky like a missile. She sat herself up, the astonishment clear on her face. "Man, it's a good thing those don't hatch on Berk."


End file.
